Barry Ten

In between bursts of work on Paynestown (N), I needed a bit of a change of scenery so I thought what better time to tackle one of the slightly outstanding problems on L'Heure Bleue! This is how to get catenary-fitted locos on and off the visible sections of the layout, and between them. Until, I've only been able to shuttle the electric stuff up and down the eight feet of finished catenary, at least with pantographs extended. As this video hopefully shows, I used a few bits of brass wire to create two lead-in, lead-off ramps which (if the loco is coming from the fiddle yard) pick up the pantograph at full extension and the ease it down onto the modelled section. I thought it would be trickier than it was, but my first have-a-go attempt seems to work fine, and just as importantly, it can be removed easily and re-attached if the layout needs to be dismantled and/or reassembled. I added a second, temporary one at the start of the station module, just to get trains on and off scene safely. I haven't yet started adding catenary here as tracklaying and testing is still a work in progress. Finally, I used the Viessman catenary masts and wires to add a linking section between the two modules, as it seemed a bit daft to have the pantographs go up/down and back again in only a few feet.

I've been using such a yard on my N layout for over a decade. I bought a pair of wireless cameras which monitor either end of the six-road yard. These feed a monitor which flicks between the two views every few seconds, which works well in practise. The yard is covered, and I've illuminated either throat with LEDs just to help with visibility. To select the roads, I use a bit of a crude system but it's also proven reliable in practise. Each point in the ladder is worked by a solenoid driven by a momentary contact switch and a CDU. If I went to select (say) road 4, I just start with road 1 and go down flicking the switches in the direction that they would need to be if the road was correctly set - in this case it would be down, down, down, up! If any of the roads are already set, the solenoid obviously doesn't move the point at all, but the action doesn't seem to cause any long-term harm. Of course it could be done a lot more cleverly with diodes or route-selection via accessory decoders. but as I said, it does work fine in practise. I use a whiteboard to note train numbers (DCC addresses and direction of travel) as one N diesel looks much like another when seen through the camera at a low angle, but in practise one soon gets the hang of what's what.

I bought the LED from B&Q as well. I'll dig out the reference later. Edit: it's an 1100 mm "Minidoka" from the "Colours" range.

If you fail to do it, will you be disavowed by the secretary?

Wordy Rappinghood (you don't ever stop) - Tom Tom Club (7" B side)

No Thugs In Our House - XTC

It's a bit tricky to get all the layout in shot right now, but this should give an idea of the arrangement: Basically it consists of a cross-beam of L-shaped wood of the kind sold by B&Q in 8 foot lengths, and which makes a very good, stiff basis for a lighting rig. This one has been recycled from some earlier bit of layout, hence the scruffiness! The timber blocks on top are a legacy of the old application, but are now used to hide the mounting screws for the LED bar, and will also form the mounting points for a front screen (with the layout name on) when it's added. That should add very little weight to the arrangement. The other bit is a piece of plywood cut into a curved bracket shape which then bolts onto the upright piece of wood which screens the fiddleyard, and which is in turn solidly attached to the backscene and the base of the layout. With these new LED-style cabinet lights, they weigh so little that the bulk of the weight of the rig is in the wood itself, rather than the light it needs to support.

There is a bit of foreground shadow, but it's not as noticeable to my eye as to the camera, so I'll stick with the original intention for now. I also like the similar effect on @wenlock 's Sherton where the middle ground of the layout really pops out, almost as if a ray of sunlight was catching it on a cloudy day. That's the idea, anyway!

Yes, popped in on the way back from Longleat only a few weeks ago. Very good.

Amazing transformations, Iain.

I'm not making any great claims for these, but here are my three Ratio Midland coaches, behind Mike Edge's beautiful G&SWR 4-6-0. The coaches were built as per the kits, brush painted with crimson and then lined with a bow-pen and Rotring, followed by HMRS transfers. There are still things to be done. They're not in the same league as the Dave Hunt carriages TW showed earlier, but they look OK in a train. Al

The Back of Love - Echo and the Bunnymen

New County Hall is where my dad worked - in fact the whole reason for us being in Cornwall. He was a civil engineer in the highways department. We used to walk our Irish Setter down Penwethers Lane.

It may be - I can see a trace of it on Google Earth, poking in and out of trees - but other than remembering walking down it to/from school, I can't quite remember where it came out at either end.

Local Boy in the Photograph - Stereophonics

When do they ever not look glum, though? (allowing for the usual exceptions, of course).

Our hedgehogs have been unusually active and regular this year. Normally we'd only catch them on camera for a few weeks at most, around spring and autumn, but they've been visiting their feeding station nearly every night for over two months now, usually around ten in the evening and then with several repeat visits. There's at least two but they're not easy to tell apart. The fox drops by occasionally too, but gives the hedgehogs plenty of respect.

That's delightful. I would have been at Kea School between around 1971 - 73 before we moved back to Wales. We also lived in Playing Place, in a bungalow on Carlyon Road. From our back garden you could see the China Clay works. We'd lived in Truro for a year or two before moving out to Playing Place. I used to walk to and from school along a footpath parallel to the Old Coach Road. I still remember it all vividly. I do remember the railway line visible from the school, although I didn't know what it was. At the time I believed I'd seen a steam engine on it, although I've long since accepted that this was impossible. I've not been back to Playing Place in 50 years but I still remember the Spar, waiting in the car while my mum went inside and hoping she'd come out with an Icebreaker or a Dr Who bar, yummy!

Apologies for replying to an old thread, but I missed it first time round and was just Googling some links to Dobwalls which brought me right back to RMWeb. I went on a school trip to Dobwalls, probably around 1972. It took me a long time to work out where we had been (all I remembered was the miniature railway and some playground type stuff) but once I'd asked the right questions, someone suggested Dobwalls and it all fitted. At the time I was a pupil at Kea school near Truro. I was a bit disappointed with the trip itself because I thought we were going to a "model" railway not a "miniature" one (I'd already been to Mevagissey) and the amount of time spent going on the train seemed very small compared to the seemingly interminable bus ride there and back. There was just the one circuit then and the ride seemed to be over in about five minutes, although I imagine it was a bit longer. They wouldn't let us go on it a second time! Over the years I looked back on it more fondly and often wondered where it had been and whether it was possible to go back. Unfortunately it had closed by the time I made the connection to Dobwalls, a great shame. My family moved out of Cornwall back to Wales in 1973 and I didn't go back until 2012.

60s TV themes were the best. The guitar on this is by the same guy who did the Bond theme.

I'm not saying I spend too much time on RMWeb... but I had a dream about those duckets last night! 😂

I also use PowerCab but found that 12V wasn't enough grunt for big sound-equipped N locos pulling heavy trains, so I bought a Maplins variable power adaptor which has been running at 15V for quite a few years. I do have a PSX short circuit protector wired in as well, though.

I think a lot of the best practise around track cleaning depends on the type of layout and the motive power that's likely to be running on it. There are bits of my 15-year old American N layout that have NEVER been cleaned and the rest of it is touched very rarely, if ever, simply because there's no need. I run diesels with a minimum of 4 axles picking up, and sometimes double or quadruple-headed so there is little or no chance of stalling. Also, some of the trains have those clip-on track cleaning pads on the odd boxcar which helps keep the rails shiny. Generally, the only bits that benefit from occasional cleaning are sidings which don't see frequent use. The mainline tracks just don't need it, and neither do the loco wheels. I've never used any sort of cleaning product on the track. I know it's clean, not just because the trains run smoothly, but because if I run my finger along the rails, I don't see any hint of dirt. However, working with Code 40 N, with 0-6-0Ts required to do stop-start shunting, is a different matter. I'm not sure if DCC versus DC isn't a factor, too. The American one is DCC, the British one DC, and I suspect DCC may have the edge for slow-speed running, and perhaps the higher track voltage helps as well? At the end of the day, what works for you is the best solution.

It probably has an effect but since I don't have gradients or long trains, I haven't noticed one.

Yes, I tried graphite powder first (from a squirty tube) then various grades of B pencil, but I've now got hold of a pure graphite drawing stick which was about 3.50 from ebay. It should be the sort of thing easily found in art shops. It does make a nice improvement to running, but I'm still iterating my way to the best way to use it. I think it's best to clean the track and wheels thoroughly, then apply a little graphite here and there to the railtops, especially near any stalling hotspots. I've also tried applying some directly to the wheels, by stroking the stick across the flanges. I'm not sure if that works but it doesn't seem to hurt. I made a short clip showing the stick being applied to the rails. Hope this is helpful.